Innovation Center

The key to handling product damage is finding the root causes — zeroing inon the when, where and why damage happens. Does it happen due to routine movements through your network and supply chain? Is it caused by environmental factors? Or is it automated systems and material-handlingequipment? Yours or even your customers’?

Reducing product damage can be done efficiently and cost effectively as part of our comprehensive offering to reduce unsaleables. CHEP has the knowledge and tools to help you get it done. We have deep operational experience with both manufacturer and retailer supply chains, an ISTA-certified Innovation Center for testing, and we literally “wrote the book” on best-in-class strategies to reduce unsaleables together with the Food Marketing Institute (FMI) and Grocery Manufacturer Association (GMA).

This is where you can find CHEP engineers ready to work with you to design, test, and validate your material handling platforms and packaging to help you improve the performance of your product in storage and transit.

Unit Load Optimization

CHEP Innovation Center - Unit Load Optimization

There are many elements that can affect the performance of your unit load: packaging, design, transportation, etc. Based on your needs, we will customize your experience at the Innovation Center to help you validate or realize areas of improvement. Our engineers will scrutinize everything from how product is arranged on the pallet (or container) to how the unit loads are positioned in a rail car for a cross-country train shipment.

Services Include:

Unit load configuration

Primary and secondary packaging

Tertiary packaging (stretch wrap, corner posts, etc.)

Product weight and durability

Transportation loading patterns/trailer or container optimization

Product Damage Reduction

CHEP Innovation Center - Vibration Testing

A trip through the CHEP Innovation Center is a trip through the supply chain. CHEP will work with you to simulate the supply chain conditions that your package/product will endure during transit or while in storage.

Our testing will identify packaging or material handling opportunities that can be modified to improve performance, ensure safe delivery and help reduce product damage.

Imagine being able to visit Your Innovation Center and test your product’s unit loads in multiple supply chain scenarios (racking, stacking, and storage) and in different climates (hot, cold, dry, and humid). We can even test a unit load’s performance during a simulated 500 km trip on a rail car or in the back of a truck with our vibration table.

ISTA Certified testing services:

Product damage analysis

Vibration testing

Long-term stack testing

Compression testing

Stretch wrap analysis

Impact testing

Materials testing (corrugated, paperboard, plastic lms, etc.)

Environmental testing

Drop testing

Packaging Performance Testing

CHEP Innovation Center - Packaging Performance

Validating the performance of packaging materials and their compatibility with material handling equipment in real-world conditions is essential for supply chain optimization.

CHEP engineers will perform laboratory and on-location testing with material handling equipment and systems to help you maximize the cost-benefit of using CHEP pooled pallets and containers.